MEETING PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE

Cynthia Ramirez, Community Advocate for ABQ FaithWorks

In our Unhoused Program, ABQ FaithWorks meets clients where they are. Sometimes people who are unhoused do not have the goal of becoming housed. Sometimes a tent and a sleeping pad are what folks request. ABQ FaithWorks can provide this and other practical supplies for our neighbors, in part due to a generous grant from United Health Care.

Support ABQ FaithWorks and live your values! Click here to make a monetary donation online now, and touch lives right here in our city. Volunteer opportunities are also available.

Executive Director, Jessica Corley addresses attendees at the Poverty Simulation!

The poverty simulation provided by ABQ FaithWorks, in collaboration with the NM Department of Health, was a huge success! Attendees were able to interact with the ABQ FaithWorks staff, board members and volunteers as they experienced in the simulation, how poverty affects all aspects of someone's life. The two hour simulation provided participants with a deeper understanding of how poverty is a structural failure of society. ABQ FaithWorks plans to hold another simulation in the late fall.

Support ABQ FaithWorks and live your values! Click here to make a monetary donation online now, and touch lives right here in our city. Volunteer opportunities are also available.

Update from Jessica Corley, Executive Director

As we approach the half way mark of 2022 (can you believe it?), here are some of the highlights of what is happening at ABQ FaithWorks.

General overview: We are fortunate to have received some additional grant funds from a variety of sources so far this year. A few new faith communities have either joined us officially or have made large donations to our efforts from their social justice teams/ministries. We are grateful for any and all financial support we receive!

Our team of staff has grown quite a bit in the first half of 2022 and we are happy to welcome:

Dawn Adkins, Housing/Homeless Director

Elijah Martinez, Asylum Director

Cynthia Ramirez, Community Advocate in our HH Program

Dora Gallegos, Office Manager

Diana Paul, Bookkeeper

In March, we moved into our new office space thanks to the generosity of the Southwest Conference of United Church of Christ, who granted us funds to pay for our space for the next two years. With the addition of our new staff, the space we now have was necessary and we are already almost at capacity.

The new Board of Directors and newly formed committees have been busy working on their various projects. Our new bylaws have been written as well as our new employee handbook, outlining staff policies and procedures. Since receiving our own non-profit status, we process our own daily bookkeeping tasks inhouse and we have hired Madrid Accounting to process our payroll, and provide the next level of separation of duties which are so important to keeping our finances safe and secure.

Programmatically, our two Directors have been busy developing their programs, recruiting and training their volunteers and managing their day-to-day operations. Both programs have experienced solid growth and building capacity has been the greatest challenge. We welcome anyone who wishes to volunteer in either program. We appreciate the importance of our current volunteers who have been stellar in their roles in the growth of FaithWorks.

Goals for the second half of the year include securing additional grant funds, further engaging our current faith-based communities and developing and fostering relationships with other service providers in Albuquerque. Our vision that all people are safely housed and integrated into communities of their choice requires a community effort and we know that one person or family at a time who acquires housing or secures a job or finally feels safe in our Country is why we do what we do. We are all very proud to work with and for the people in our community.

Any inquiries or comments can be directed to info@abqfaithworks.org

Support ABQ FaithWorks and live your values! Click here to make a monetary donation online now, and touch lives right here in our city. Volunteer opportunities are also available.